NEW YORK — Around half of New Yorkers approve of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s job performance as he approaches his 100th day in office, and a clear majority believe the city is headed in the right direction, a new poll found.

The survey, conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, is the first high-quality, nonpartisan poll to capture New Yorkers’ views of Mamdani, 34, since he took office Jan. 1.s

The findings were mostly positive — with some caveats.

More than 60% of city residents believe that Mamdani, a democratic socialist and the city’s youngest mayor in a century, is hardworking and a good leader who understands the challenges facing the five boroughs.

But somewhat fewer respondents say he has demonstrated effective governance so far. Overall, the poll found that 48% of New Yorkers approved of the job he was doing, while 30% disapproved.

Mamdani’s approval rating clocked in decidedly lower than Eric Adams’ 61% approval rating at the same point in his mayoralty four years ago. And Mamdani’s rating was almost identical to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s in 2014, after his first three months in office.

“It’s a good start,” said Lee M. Miringoff, the director of the Marist poll. “But New York City doesn’t give a honeymoon easily, and I think it’s still a proving time for him.”

Marist conducted its survey in the final days of March, as Mamdani rounded out his third month in office, and it agreed to share the results with The New York Times before releasing them publicly. The survey included responses from 1,454 adults; the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Mamdani’s mayoralty has coincided with a sharp upswing in optimism about the city’s trajectory. Fifty-six percent of New Yorkers said things were moving in the right direction, compared with 43% who said they were moving in the wrong direction. As recently as last October, only 31% of residents expressed such optimism.

The results arrive at a crucial moment for Mamdani’s mayoralty. He has largely finished staffing City Hall and has made progress on some major campaign promises, including reaching a deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul to expand free child care across the city in the years to come.

But the mayor is heading into the heat of budget negotiations with legislators in Albany and with City Council that could make or break his first-year agenda. The talks will determine whether he can secure new tax revenue from the state, or if he will instead have to pursue unpopular measures like budget cuts or property tax increases to balance the budget.

For now, the poll suggests, Mamdani’s image remains generally positive, and consistent with where it was around last year’s election.

Fifty-five percent of New Yorkers view him favorably, compared with 33% who view him unfavorably. Young residents are likely to rate him more highly than older ones, liberals more highly than moderates and Black people more highly than other racial groups.

Mamdani, who faced doubts about his lack of management experience before entering City Hall, has emphasized his commitment to the brass tacks of municipal government: filling potholes, clearing snow and picking up the garbage.

That focus has earned him good marks in at least one high-profile case, the poll suggested. Roughly 2 in 3 New Yorkers approved of how Mamdani and his administration responded to this winter’s two major snowstorms. (Staten Island residents disagreed, with two-thirds of those polled saying they disapproved of the cleanup efforts.)

About 60% of New Yorkers said they thought Mamdani was delivering on his campaign promises.

And the mayor got high marks for his engagement with President Donald Trump, who has gone to war with leaders of other large Democratic cities.

After denouncing Trump as a despot while he was campaigning for mayor, Mamdani has taken a far friendlier approach with the president than expected. Those dynamics could change, but so far, Trump has backed off threats to pull billions of dollars in federal funding from New York City and expressed interest in collaborating on a major housing project in Queens.

Fifty-nine percent of New Yorkers said Mamdani was generally taking the right approach to the president. Twelve percent said Mamdani was working too closely with him, and 26% said he was not working closely enough.

Still, the survey suggested the mayor was struggling to win over groups that did not support him during last year’s election.

He is deeply underwater with Republicans, a group that has long been marginalized in the city, and is also underwater with New Yorkers who are not enrolled in a political party.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Nicholas Fandos/Adam Gray
c. 2026 The New York Times Company